No Hero

I was trying to "cut him out," as my blunt friend Quinby phrased it to my face. I had not, of course, the smallest desire to do any such vulgar thing. All I wante

ot necessarily in front of him. But if there was nothing dastardly in this, neither was

the "turning movement" of the day. So I had learnt something in South Africa after all. I had learnt how to avoid hard knocks which might very well do more harm than good to the cause I had at heart. That cause was still sharply defined before my mind. It was the first and most sacred

In this case the lady started at the most advantageous disadvantage; every admirable quality, her candour, her courage, her spirited independence, her evident determination to piece a broken life together again and make the best of it, told doubly in her favour to me with my special knowledge of her past. It would be too much to say that I was deeply interested; but Mrs. Lascelles had inspired me with a certain sympathy and dispassionate regard. Cultivated she was not, in the conventional sense, but she knew mor

h. There was a finer edge than ever on the silhouetted mountains against the stars. It appeared that Bob and Mrs. Lascelles had talked of taking their lunch to the Findelen Glacier on the next fine day, for he came up and reminded her of it as she sat with me in the glazed

rd to it," said my companion, with a smile of her own to w

looked h

er come, to

te intending to play second fiddle n

been up to the Cricke

put in Mrs. Lascelles, with a

uoth Bob, "and nails in his boots; then the

ething more; the use of the third person changed from chaff to sco

l be delighted to come, and I'll take your t

sion from the first. Nevertheless, I was annoyed with him for what he had said, and for the moment my actions were no part of my scheme. Consequently I

of you," he had the

do you

or young beggar

underst

t you've gone in on the military ticket

was more or less prepared for that. But here were outsiders talking about us-the three of us! So far from putting a stop to the talk, I had given it a regular fillip: here were Quinby and his friends as keen as possible to see what would happen next, if not betting on a row. The situation had tak

eivable chance. His manners might have failed him for one heated moment overnight; they were beyond all praise this morning; and I repeatedly discerned a morbid sporting dread of giving the adversary less than fair play. It was sad to me to consider myself as such to Catherine's son, but I was determined not to let the thought depress me, and there was much outward occasion for good cheer. The morning was a perfect o

ng on the sloping ice with its soiled margin of yet more treacherous moraine. Yet on the glacier itself I was less handicapped than I had been on the way, and hopped along finely with my two shod sticks and the sharp new nails in my boots. Bob, however, was invariably in the van, and Mrs. Lascelles seemed more disposed to wait for me th

d threw out a hand to prevent me from peering farther over. The gesture was obviously impersonal and instinctive, as an older eye would have seen, but Bob's was smouldering when mine met it next, and in the ensuing advance he left us farther behind than ever. But on the rock where we had our lunch he was once more himself, bright and boyish, careless and assured. So he continued till the end of that chapter. On the way home, moreover, he never on

tly as usual, and his hands were in his pockets. But his fresh brown face was as grave as any judge's, and his mouth

vers, dryly; "and we mi

nd if I go on shaving, an

o you remember our conver

or l

I were alone together

emember somet

licate irony than heretofore. "But, as a matter of fact, I believe I said it was all rot that pe

eve you

that was rot.

d with my raz

ellow!" I

but rather harshly, while his mount

said I; and on the word his l

red through his

t enemy's breath more completely taken away than mine. What could I

me with a steady fi

er," he said, "if

ew, he was man enough for any age as we faced each other in

ntured to remonstrate, "

s. I am in earnest

athed

berty to give yourself away to me, but you reall

e. I only didn't want you to think that I was saying one thing and doing another. As a matter of fact I meant all I said at the time, or thought I did, until you came along and made me look into myself rather more closely than

I did see for myself, only too clearly and precisely, how I had managed to pre